A selection of recent book dedications, the last two from the same novel: a prize for guessing who it’s by.

‘I’d like to thank my girlfriend… who travelled with me while I did the field work, and read through the whole manuscript at stages. Admittedly she was paid handsomely in fine Italian wine.’

‘In Memoriam Matris’

‘To Barack and Michelle Obama, and the future of American art’

‘To complainers everywhere’

‘to mine enemies, without whom none of this would have been possible’

‘Animals possess a purity that exceeds even that of children and they have much to teach us, if only we will cease our arrogance and listen. I am grateful to my late dogs, Nicky, Wendy and Tiger, and my late cats, Percy, Emily, Toby, Big Syd and Homer Wells Lamb.’

‘I would like to dedicate this book to the word “humility”.’

‘I would also like to give my thanks to Jane Austen. Childless, like so many of the great feminists, she is nonetheless the mother, I believe, of “the line of sanity” that so characterises the English novel.’

‘Shakespeare, defying all rules and properties as usual, needs no thanks from this writer.’

I’d just like to give thanks to Philip Roth. Childless, like most of the great misogynists, he is nonetheless the father, I believe, of “the archetypal ballbreaker” that so often populates the modern American novel by men of a certain age.